Peter K. Haff, Professor Emeritus of Earth and Ocean Sciences and CNCS: Center for nonlinear and complex systems and Faculty Network Member of The Energy Initiative

The neoenvironment is the total environment in which we live. It is the sum of the natural, human, and technological systems and processes that surround us. It includes for example forest ecosystems, animals and machines, nanotechnology, the internet, highways, medical systems, power grids, human populations, political parties, governments and bureaucracies, robots and religions and their interactions with each other. In an age in which both the level and acceleration of technology are high, understanding and living with our "environment" can only mean understanding and living with the neoenvironment. Technology cannot be factored out of the neoenvironment leaving only natural processes. The neoenvironment must be understood as a whole. There are many consequences for the future of human-well being that flow from the emergence of the neoenvironment and my research examines some of them.

Research Interests:Field work and computation on earth surface processes, including the role of humans as geomorphic agents, in the dynamics of the modern technological environment, and in limitations to modeling and prediction in science.